


yours eternally

by jxshua



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Melancholy, Romance, baker mingyu, photographer wonwoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 12:56:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15510375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jxshua/pseuds/jxshua
Summary: "you can’t be here."alternatively, wonwoo meets the strange man he has always seen in his dreams.





	yours eternally

Tattered and narrow paths of exposed brick ran straight between two rows of decrepit buildings, sparked with life by orange lights and worn out, puffing chimneys. A comforting breeze swept through the town, dried leaves susurrating over his feet and daily papers rustling in the newspaper stands.

The passing figures were blurred and trifling but it was bizarre that he remembered each and every one of them with clear intensity. A mother pushing her crying baby in a pram, a young couple playfully shoving each other with milkshakes in their hands and kids running past him in fits of cheerful laughter and screams. It was uncanny.

He trudged down the path, steering for a moment to avoid a cyclist heading up the steep brick road. Jingles of a nearby ice cream stall resonated down the street, ringing in his ears. He cradled a camera in his hands, rapidly taking pictures to etch the moments in his mind forever because they were just too breathtaking.

The scent of freshly baked bread and coffee wafted into the air and he perked up with a smile curving the corners of his lips. A small bakery emerged in sight and somehow, he found himself enamoured by the lovely, humble store with crates of breads and cake splayed over the counter.

The bells clinked and a young man stepped past the threshold of the kitchen, dusting the flour from his sunbaked hands and wiping them messily over his cream white apron. His sunkissed, bronze complexion contrasted harmoniously with the blonde hair slicked from his forehead, and a dash of icing smeared his eerily striking countenance.

Flecks of golden sunshine danced in his warm umber irises, instantaneously mesmerising and bewitching him like never before. This was his first time meeting the man but the familiarity in his features was strangely unsettling.

“Wonwoo,” the baked greeted, sporting a tone of excitement, “You’re here again.”

‘Again?’ he thought. Wonwoo regarded the array of butter cakes and wheat bread before him with a strange sense of nostalgic fondness.

“Yeah,” he found himself chirping, “How have you been, Mingyu?”

“I’ve been well.”

Who the hell is Mingyu? Because _Mingyu_ just handed him a small brown paper bag, bashfully smiling at him and– “Sponge cakes and pâte feuilletée. Your favourites.”

“Oh, thank you.”

_How did he know that?_

The man reached out, fingers gingerly circling around his slim wrist.

“Come more often, will you?”

His voice was slowly tuning out into a gentle echo, like musical notes traveling through his ears.

“Do I not come often?” Wonwoo enquired, unconsciously intertwining their digits together.

The way their fingers curled and fitted together, like it was made for each other, made his heart clench and rip at the edges. Something about this felt so right. Like they had known each other all their lives, embedded each other’s existence somewhere within their hearts, knowing that no one will ever come between them.

Mingyu gave his hand a squeeze, a flash of pain flickering over his eyes despite the mellow smile tugging on the ends of his lips.

“Not lately, and I miss you every day you don’t.”

The blonde was somehow growing…further apart from him. His figure began muddling, vanishing before him.

“Wonwoo,” he pleaded, “Please don’t go. I love you.”

The brunet could feel himself crashing into a million pieces in the dirt. He tried to mouth the words as they fought to escape his lips, but it was soundless and empty as the darkness began obscuring his visions and throwing him off his feet. His entire being was throttled into numbing despair.

_I love you, too._

The male flinched back to reality with a discontented groan, blinking blearily as the beams of sunlight bounced into the room and blinded his eyes. He had spent a sleepless night rushing projects and fell asleep in his office at dawn, waking up to sore muscles and the sound of his alarm screeching under the sun.

Wonwoo rubbed his neck, drowsiness heavy on his lids, and let out a sigh of exhaustion. He had been drifting into the same dream again. It has been a couple of weeks since he had last delved into that strange town in his dreams. And with every single visit, he seemed to encounter a face that he had known all his life.

His chest constricted in distress.

How could he love a man that he has only met in his dreams?

The door cracked open and a lilac haired male peered in through the gap, looking equally as lethargic and dishevelled as he was. “Hey, don’t miss the flight,” he croaked, “Venice isn’t going to take pictures of itself.”

“Good morning Junhui,” he bid with a fit of yawns, “Did boss approve the final draft?”

“Yeah, it’s all good and ready to go.”

“Cool. See you on Friday.”

“Don’t forget me while you’re there.”

Wonwoo twisted his wrist to check the time, a light hearted simper playing on his lips. “Yeah, I won’t miss you.”

“Okay Jeon, get outta here,” he called out.

 

“Enjoy your stay in _Serenissima_.”

Fighting bouts of jetlag and fatigue, Wonwoo meandered down the beauteous streets of Venice amidst the lustre of damask sunrays carpeting the evening, gruelling over crinkled sheets of sketches. He was surrounded by tumbledown, chipping pastel buildings and lonely winding alleyways, wistful sparks burning in his chest.

A body of canals split through the city with a vaporetto leisurely cascading down the waters, and he climbed aboard, screwing the lenses onto his camera. He smiled, enthralled by the city’s beauty, and suddenly his chest was brimming with a strange wrenching sensation. Tears swelled in his eyes and in a fit of confusion, he struggled to blink them away.

_What–_

He had been yearning for this feeling all along.  It was like he had finally found a missing piece of his soul, and he was…completed. Wonwoo swallowed the bile rising in his throat, eyes trained on the surreal, picturesque sight before his eyes. For a moment, he neglected his pictures, simply basking in the mystifying dreamlike sight.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” the rower queried, paddling with his feet firmly planted on the boat, “I can never get bored of it.”

“I must be dreaming,” he whispered.

The man agreed with a smile. “That’s what they all say, too.”

They pulled up at a gorgeous district, decked out in hedges of jasmine and camellias with cosy homes and blocks. He waved the passengers farewell, finding comfort with the bright smiles on their faces as they drifted peacefully towards the sunset. The raven haired male ambled aimlessly down the stretch of brick pavement, never before being at such ease.

A gust of wind puffed through the alley out of the blue, whipping the bangs from his face and snatching the papers from his grasp before settling into the dust. He bent over to collect them with a sigh. What was going on– Wonwoo glanced up, eyes widening in bewilderment, and he was instantly left breathless.

No way.

_No way._

He was perched upon a path, surrounded by brick construction and warm orange lights. His eyes darted back and forth in search of a foreign entity but there was none. The familiarity permeated every fibre of his being, enveloping him in a cosy but dolorous feeling. This was the place he had been residing in, in countless of dreams.

Wonwoo gazed upon each and every passing stranger, easily identifying their faces despite the fact that they did not have a care in the world for him. But their figures were airbrushed, like their existence had been ingrained into the core of the universe yet evanescing into nothingness with the ticks of time.

With shaking hands, he raised his camera and snapped a string of photographs, flipping through them only to find blank images on the screen. His body jerked instinctively and he stumbled aside as a cyclist swept past him. And he had an urgent itch to find something, _someone_. Something was amiss.

He glimpsed around hurriedly, running down the lane until a hint of butter hit his nose and he halted his steps in front of a baker’s shop. His gut feeling urged him to enter because honestly, _what are you waiting for?_ Wonwoo curled his fists, fighting to get a grip of himself as his heart rate began accelerating.

He closed his eyes and pushed his way inside, and was consumed by a tender pain tearing through his heart. A young blonde was sorting out crates of bread with flour stained fingers, alerted by the tinkling of the bells against the door.

“Welcome,” he shouted, craning his neck to shoot his prospective customer a glance.

And he froze.

Wonwoo could not utter a single word. Tears streamed down his unoffending cheeks and unadulterated affection blossomed in his chest. He didn’t know this man but when their gazes connected, something inside of him _broke_. He finally understood why this hollow, empty feeling had been inhabiting his chest all his life.

“Mingyu,” he whispered.

They dashed towards one another.

Mingyu threw his arms around the younger, lifting him off his feet and capturing his lips in a loving, searing kiss. Wonwoo cupped his face with gentle calloused hands, spellbound by the moment, and nothing else mattered then. The crevices of their bodies fitted together perfectly, something Wonwoo never thought he would be able to feel.

They parted breathlessly.

“How did you get here?” Mingyu implored, flushed from the kiss, with a trilling voice like a bird’s, “You can’t be here, you don’t belong in this place.”

“What do you mean?” he protested, “I’ve been looking for you all my life. I’m not going back. I can’t. Not when I belong here, with you.”

Mingyu lowered him from his arms to link their fingers together. “You don’t know what you’re saying. When night falls, you’ll never be able to leave again and you will live in a realm of dreams until time ends.”

Wonwoo pressed a short, lingering kiss on the other’s plush lips, transfixed on the man with hypnotising eyes before him.

“Please let me stay,” he beseeched.

The blonde tilted his head upwards, watching helplessly as velvet tones and waves of constellations began carpeting the skies. He encased Wonwoo in a tight grip, keeping their gazes locked together.

“Are you sure about this? You will live until the universe perishes and your existence will be wiped clean from the world.”

“Mingyu, I’ve been waiting for this moment, for years and years. I have always yearned to be yours and now I’m finally here. I can’t leave you.”

Mingyu enveloped him in a warm embrace and he could feel their souls entwining, weaving into the stars dotting the Milky Way before they vanished from the world in ripples of glinting stardust. Wonwoo was dispelled from all memories but lived in bliss, hand in hand with the love of his life as they roamed through dreams and clouds.

On some days, Junhui woke up from a particularly odd reverie, where a nostalgic face would beam at him playfully while strolling down beautiful streets with a beautiful man by his hip. Junhui would sip on his morning coffee, eyes flitting over the sun peeking over the horizons in deep thought but no amount of caffeine could help him recall details.

Still, whoever he was, Junhui knew that he was happy.

 

Wonwoo nestled his face onto the column of his lover’s neck, limbs tangled and their linked fingers propped on his lap. Tender evening tones shrouded their bodies, shadows spilling across the brick beneath them. How long have you been waiting, he asked Mingyu, and the man just laughed and shook his head with an adoring smile.

For as long as time could remember, he said.

And now, they would love each other until time ceased to exist.


End file.
